Nothing works in Kenya, despite all the denials | Cane tax thieves in public.

The problem in Kenya is not rise of food commodity prices. The main problem is when all is said and done, the shilling has exchanged hands, where it sleeps. Its final destination.

This week I had a discussion with Dr. PLO Lumumba who is on a European tour and I suggested the following to him since he is himself Kenya's distinguished lawyer and a prospective lawmaker.

I said to him, that the prison system is alien and in Africa where half of the population is literally hungry for basic necessities, prison cannot serve its purpose effectively.

THE CANE
In accordance to African traditions, the only way to punish a culprit effectively is to charge him/her and shame him/her in front of people who know him/her. At the moment, an offender is simply out planted and taken to a far away prison, making him/her look like he/she traveled.

Thieves and sexual offenders should be canned at the Village Baraza. Economic offenders can be canned and imprisoned, depending on the seriousness of offense committed.

Offenders who bottleneck the economy like Kamlesh Pattni should not be let Scot-free like they're now. The cane or even more serious punishment or life imprisonment without parole can be good for them. These are the seeds that should not be mixed when planting for the next season.

Government officials who misappropriate tax monies should be punished according to the seriousness of the offense. This can go from the cane at his/her village Baraza to life imprisonment.

Then a global infrastructure and logistics must be put in place to ensure that, everybody who has a full time job can afford basic necessities. Farmers must be helped to get appropriate value for their produce and that they can afford a decent basic life and the more they produce, the more they can earn. Teachers, doctors and nurses, butchers and even cobblers must be helped to play a vital role in the economy.

THE MORE YOU EARN AFTER EXPENSES, THE MORE TAX YOU PAY BUT ALSO THE MORE THE STATE SHOULD HELP YOU GO GET MORE.
The state must help economic geniuses earn more. At the same time, the state must also help break economic monopolies by helping young people venture into business. Taxes must help the population otherwise there is no need to pay taxes.

Schools and hospitals, roads and bridges, lakes and rivers must all benefit from our taxation system.

GET THE THIEF AND TAKE HIM/HER TO COURT IMMEDIATELY.
People with access to our tax moneys who steal should be brought to justice and dealt with immediately.

THE STATE MUST ALWAYS BE RICHER AND MORE POWERFUL THAN THE INDIVIDUALS.
The biggest mistake Africa made after Independence is that it harbored economic thieves who became richer and more powerful than the state and Kenya is one of them. Kenyatta, Moi and now Kibaki are obviously some of the richest families in Kenya. Not for business entrepreneurship but putting aside tax money for themselves. This is a sickness we must now eradicate.

THE SHILLING CAN GO AROUND BUT MUST EVENTUALLY END UP WITH ITS RIGHTFUL OWNER, THE MWANANCHI.

-James.